Donna Karan

At seven in the morning, she wakes up to brush her teeth and commence each day with lemon in hot water. Later, she dresses up in her black exercise outfit to do either yoga or Pilates with her instructor at home. Staying fit and smart is what she stresses on in her life. The most preferred time of the day for her is when she lets herself enjoy the smell of essential oils in her hot bath and steam. Once out, she finishes her breakfast that’s usually a spinach omelet. In order to balance her diet, she takes supplements like calcium, vitamin D and licorice. During the day, she tantalizes her taste buds with salads, soups and juices. When she’s done with her ‘me’ time, she checks up on her daughter and then her official day begins.

She dresses everyday for work in a uniform manner and never goes out without her belt bag or one of her necklaces or bracelets. For an ordinary day, she avoids wearing makeup. Before heading out of the house, she always packs some food for herself. Moreover, she cannot function without her cell phone, so that’s an important item since her entire day is planned usually through messages. From around 2:00pm onwards, she enters her design room and feels relieved. At night she attends dinners and cocktail parties, building good relations with important people. By 1:00 am she is dressed for bed. For such a scheduled and energetic day, she thanks Stephan, her husband who taught her the trick to connect all the dots together to make a perfect line.

This organized, health and beauty conscious person is no other than Donna Karan, who is generally known as DK. She founded the well-known apparel label, DKNY. She is an American born fashion designer and philanthropist.

She belongs to a Jewish background and her birth name was Donna Ivy Faske. In the 1970s, she married Mark Karan who she divorced eight years later and had a daughter with him. Then she married Stephen Weiss in 1983, he unfortunately died in 2001 from lung cancer.

Her philanthropic efforts include the Urban Zen foundation that she co-founded with Sonja Nuttall, a designer. In order to benefit charity cause, Karan sold her personal possessions. Then in 2008, Karan donated more than $800,000 to Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. In addition, she protested over the utilization of fur in her company when she began supporting PETA.

She attained her graduation in 1966 after studying at Hewlett High School. Karan then joined the Parsons School of Design to gain knowledge about art and creativity in the intended field. After finishing her education, she began working with Anne Klein and eventually became the head of their design department. She remained there till 1985 and then introduced her eponymous brand, Donna Karan, with the Takihyo Corporation and Stephen. Soon after she stopped working with Klein, she introduced her debut clothing line for women.

Donna insisted always that she would create dresses that she would love to wear herself. In 1988, she created a cheaper version of her clothing collection for young women – DKNY. After two years, when Karan launched her DKNY jeans, they became a hit in the market and thrives till today. In 1992, the men’s version of DKNY, was introduced.

In 1997, she abandoned the position of the Chief Executive Officer at her own label and continues to work as a designer and chairperson.